Although my 20mm collection of Napoleonic Prussians and French is up to a fairly good size now, I still have very little in the way of suitable model buildings. My original plans was to use buildings one size down (ie. 15mm), since it keeps the footprint smaller and should look reasonably ok. However, before going down that path I decided to explore the possibility of using paper terrain as a cheaper option.
These are the few models I've built so far. They're all from 'European Buildings' - a book by Peter Dennis and Florian Richter that is part of the Paperboys series published by Helion & Company.
The designs are printed on heavyweight paper, so you can cut them straight out and start assembling, but I decided to scan and print these ones instead, just to give myself a bit of practice first.
In terms of size compatibility, I was pleasantly surprised to find they're pretty much a perfect fit for my 20mm figures from Newline Designs. I had expected I'd be printing them at a slightly reduced size, but not so. They're just fine as they are, which is excellent news since it means I can use the printed pages straight out the book when I'm ready.
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| The farmhouse (in three sections). The gate (which I thickened with a layer of card) even has paper hinges! |
The book contains a good selection of buildings like churches, village houses, a chateau, a farmhouse and windmills, as well as bridges, walls and trees. With a bit of imagination I'm sure one could combine the various designs to create customised buildings. The artworks is superb, as you might expect from Peter Dennis, and all in all I think they look great on the tabletop. From a distance it's not even immediately obvious they are made of paper.
The buildings are advertised as being suitable for European warfare in the 18th and 19th centuries, although not all areas are covered geographically. For example, there are Spanish buildings that would be good for the Peninsular War, but nothing with, say, an overtly Russian flavour for 1812. However, for the price tag it is fantastic value and gives you more than enough to fill a table without having to spend ages painting everything.
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| This building comes with a separate privy. "Guard the loo!" |
Some bits were a bit fiddly to assemble, such as the small dormer windows, but on the whole I found the experience very straightforward and rather enjoyable. In fact, I feel I'm pretty well sold on the idea of using paper buildings, perhaps combined with proper model trees and other things. I can also see the potential to reinforce the buildings using card or foamcore, which is what I've already done with the stone dykes. I could even use the buildings as a template for building my own model versions of them, if I ever find the time. But, for now at least, it's great to have an 'instant' supply of buildings for my 20mm games.
